The present invention relates to padded jaw animal traps generally, and specifically, to improvements in animal retention in the leg-hold type animal trap.
Animal traps have been in wide use for many years in the animal control and fur trapping industry, and are widespread in their application. Generally, a pair of jaws are biased from a set position towards a sprung position by an actuator device, which can be a spring or other means. The jaws are generally retained in a set position by a latch and trigger mechanism, wherein the animal initiates operation of the trap by actuating the trigger mechanism. Once triggered, the jaws clamp shut, retaining an extremity of the animal therebetween.
The padding of trap jaws for the animal's protection is well known, as can be seen by the following patents:
______________________________________ Country Patent No. Patentee ______________________________________ United States 870,251 Rasmussen United States 1,461,743 Accola United States 1,825,193 Maddox United States 2,128,579 Corey United States 2,146,464 Briddell United States 2,316,970 O'Neil United States 3,939,596 Webley England 18,632 Mitchell ______________________________________
In an unpadded animal trap, the retention power is provided by the pressure applied over a very narrow area (the width of the jaw) to the animal's leg. If the pressure is high enough to ensure retention of the animal, it could cause damage to the trapped appendage. Unfortunately, with the padding of animal trap jaws, and reducing the peak pressures applied to the animal's appendage (by increasing the area of the jaw with a resilient material), it is generally much easier for an animal to escape because the peak pressures have been significantly reduced, and thus, the main retention aspect of a steel jaw trap has been diminished.
It should be noted that all of the prior art padded jaw animal traps have jaw faces which are either flat or slightly convex in order to conform to the face of the steel jaw. On closing upon the appendage of an animal, such a flat or slightly convex padded jaw will deform to a distinctly convex shape, which can permit the animal to withdraw the trapped appendage. Clearly, if an existing trap is padded in the manner of the prior art, the chances of the animal's escape from such a trap are greatly enhanced. Thus, the peak pressures provided by an unpadded jaw have been necessary heretofore to successfully retain a trapped animal, minimizing the use of padded jaw traps which, while less hurtful to the animal, have been found by most trappers to be unsatisfactory. It is this difficult attempt at compromise between adequate retention properties and injury to the animal with which the instant invention is concerned.